Content

• Steps
• Tips
• Warnings
• What do you need

Footbag, more commonly known as hacky-sack (literally "bag toss" - coined by the toy company Wham-O!), Is a sport that can be played individually or with a group of people by kicking the ball with your feet. In addition to the legs, almost all body parts can be used with the exception of the hands or arms - just like in football. This article will walk you through the basics of kicking and throwing the ball, which includes the basics of kicking the ball as well as a few tricks.

Steps

1. 1 Understand the game. The ultimate goal that the entire group “should strive for” is to keep the ball (bag) in the air for as long as possible. If each person in the team hits the bag at least once, then the group will close the “circle” or “hit the ball hard”. When each person kicks the bag in a circle at least twice, then the group will complete the "double helix", and so on. The rules change if you play alone. Individual footbag freestyle has evolved into a very complex sport with many kicks and kicks tied together to perform tricks.
2. 2 Buy a good quality sack (ball) (or make it yourself), preferably a bag filled with sand, metal (shavings) or even small balls. The more padding, the harder it will be to keep the ball on your foot. If you have a sack with large balls, consider running over them with something very heavy, such as a machine to break them.
3. 3 Wear shoes with very flat inner and outer surfaces and wide, flat toes. Skate shoes are a good place to start; their surface will allow you to kick and hold the bag. However, tennis shoes are also held in high esteem, even among professionals.
4. 4 Put on your shorts. The pants will restrict your movement, and their surface can increase the likelihood that your punch will send the sack off the set trajectory.
5. 5 Practice 3 basic kicks - inside (left and right), outside (left and right), and toe kick.
   • Internal kick: Throw the sack carefully in front of you. Use the inside of your foot - the area near the center of your shoe where the arch of your foot is - to hit the bag straight up. Bend your ankle so that the inside of your leg is parallel to the ceiling. This will help you make sure that the ball is going straight up and not to the side. It will also help bend the leg you are standing on. After one hit, catch the bag with your hand. Continue tossing, kicking, and catching the ball until it flies straight. Then try to kick the bag alternately with both legs without arms. See how many times you can fill in a row!
     
     
   • External kick: Throw the sack gently with outstretched hand and use the middle of the outer leg to kick the bag. This is not easy to do, but remember the tips above - bend your ankle so that the outside of your leg is parallel to the ceiling and bend the leg you are standing on.
     
     
   • Toe kick: Throw the sack carefully in front of you, but at a greater distance than with an inside kick. Use your toes to kick the bag straight up. This kick is similar to the one that is often used to hit a soccer ball.
     
     
6. 6 Practice 3 basic kicks - inside (left and right), outside (left and right), and toe kick.
   • Internal blow: Throw a sack in front of you. Using the inside of your foot - the area near the center of your shoe, catch the sack with your foot, gently lowering it a few centimeters (a couple of inches) in a swinging motion. This will help absorb the kick from the bag and prevent it from bouncing to the side. When catching a ball, imagine you are catching a raw egg or a ball filled with water.
     
     
   • External impact: Throw the bag up and propel it with your leg lowering a few centimeters.
     
     
   • Toe kick: Throw the bag in front of you and push it back again, lowering your leg a few centimeters.
     
     
7. 7 Combine kicks and punches. Try a combination of punches such as far left, left welterweight, far right, right welterweight, or whatever comes to your mind. This will help you learn how to control the direction of the bag.
8. 8 Keep your leg down: It may seem daunting at first, but you will undoubtedly improve your skills if you can serve the ball from below. In addition, it will help with strong throws or accidental hits; the knee is the support area for the kick and does not go straight up.
9. 9 Get in the habit of catching sack in strange places. In order to hold the ball, you should hit it with your back, chest, neck, face, knee, or even your neck and chin. The main thing is not to let him fall.
10. 10 Don't strain yourself when kicking the ball. This will undoubtedly increase the duration of your strikes and prevent muscle strain.
11. 11 Exercise regularly. As with most motor skill sports, it is also better to practice here for a few minutes or half an hour every day than to train for hours every now and then.
12. 12 Set goals for yourself, for example, 100 inside kicks in a row, 20 rainbow feints (outside serve with the left foot overhead, then outside with the right), or 20 toe strikes.
13. 13 As you become more adept at serving and hitting, stand in a circle to pass the ball or search the internet for more advanced sack tricks.

Tips

• When playing as a team, you will have to learn a few special rules of conduct. For example, don't think that everyone should serve you.
• Be patient. It can take a lot of practice to learn the basics, but if you try hard, you can quickly gain momentum.Some championship caliber freestyle footbags have little experience - just a couple of years - but they train daily.
• One of the most common games is Red Dot. In it, the team is trying to catch a normal rhythm by hitting the ball. However, the person who breaks the rule is kicked in the ass. The offender stands one meter away from the person who served; then he kicks the bag at the intruder with all his might. Thus, he gets a red dot. It is best to stand up straight, covering your genitals and face with your bent arms (a blow to the kidneys can be painful if you stand upside down). Red dots are usually given for selfishness, "hindering the game" (kick the ball low above the ground), "window" (passing the ball between the legs), inept passing, pounding a footbag (usually a series - more than 4 hits by one player when the ball should be passed ), grabbing or passing the footbag with the hands and / or arms, unsuccessful pass, and hitting the ball with excessive force. Other rules can also be included.
• Once you have a foundation, it will be much more fun for you to pass the ball to other footbags. You can assemble a team of your friends or find a club. There are football clubs in almost every locality.
• Games are great for practice - they will help you learn how to hit various passes. A good game for beginners and pros alike is death (better known as annihilation, but also kill, hit, battle, two against one and three). In death, the group chooses who starts to kick the ball and determines the number of people who will participate - usually 2 or 3 players. When the participants have settled, the one who got the footbag can choose a player and kick the ball to him. If the bag is close to a player, and he could not hit it before the ball touches the ground, that person is out of the game, and it continues until there is one player left.
• The other type of game is mostly a variation on word game and is called “challenge”, but it is more commonly known as “3 hits”. The rules of this game are also in many ways similar to "words", but differ in that instead of "throwing" the ball, you slap it with your open palm. A person who has been hit three times (depending on the number of hits assigned at the beginning of the competition) is eliminated from the game.
• The game can be stretched by changing the strokes in a circle for a game like "words". In "words" you should choose a word of 3-10 letters. Let's take the word “life” - if the footbag is kicked 3 times, someone has to take it and “throw” it to another player. Then that player gets a 'b'. As soon as the player says “everyday life,” he or she is out of the game. This game can be shortened to 'would' for new players so that he or she only has to hit the ball twice. Or it can be extended with longer words for more experienced players. Important note - a pass counts as two hits, and one player is not allowed to hit more than once in a row.
• Although many people are familiar with the term heki-sack, in fact, this is the wrong name for this sport - the term heki-sack comes from the name of the trademark of one of the types of footbag. It was the first footbag to appear, so the name stuck.
• This game was called "scorer", but in the Midwest it is also known as "assassination". Once the sack is hit 3 times (the number of hits depends on your desire, double hit is also popular), according to the rules, you should kick the sack to another player or "throw" to him, which will give a point to him or you (depending on your rating system). If the player takes the hit and continues to hold the sack in the air ("repulsed attack"), the hit is not counted and the game continues. In this variation of the game (at least in the Midwest style), strikes or throwsperformed below the knee do not count. Some variations provide that one player must kick the sack (no matter how many) times in a row before he tries to kill.But you can just play differently, giving each player a chance to score points for the overall score.

Warnings

• It is a good idea to stretch your legs before you start playing to avoid muscle tension / contraction during cyclic movements.
• You may be kicked by a person standing next to you or a sack may hit you in the face / or groin area. You play at your own risk.
• You can injure your ankles, knees, legs, and back if you're not careful.

What do you need

• Footbag or kushball
• Playable place
• Several friends if you don't want to play alone